Chelene Belamour lives in Paulette, a small village near the northeast coast of Haiti. Before becoming a Fonkoze-empowered micro-entrepreneur, Chelene had fallen into ultra-poverty (the most extreme form) due to two unfortunate events: the death of her mother and her son breaking his leg. The funeral costs and medical fees, respectively, were all it took for Chelene’s life to change from an already not-so-good situation to a dire one. To make money, she would find and sell a few random items (clothing, etc.) at the local market – but it was not enough to feed her children every day.
Today, Chelene is on a pathway to a better future. She graduated from Fonkoze’s empowering ultra-poverty program, CLM, where she received weekly visits from a specially-appointed CLM case manager who provided her with confidence-building, enterprise management and life skills training.
Fonkoze has also given Chelene two productive assets of her choice to generate income. She chose goats and commerce inventory. The progress she has made in the program enabled her to keep her children in school and feed them regularly. She says, “I am so very thankful. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for CLM.”
